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POLITICO 44

An aggressive White House push on jobs and deficit reduction in 2010 may be yet another sign that climate-change legislation will stay on the back burner next year.

“There is a growing chorus in the party that thinks we should be doing more to spur job creation and not necessarily tackle cap and trade right now,” said a moderate Democratic Senate aide.

White House officials told POLITICO on Friday that President Barack Obama plans curb new domestic spending beyond jobs programs and focus on cutting the federal deficit next year.

In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid has hinted that Democrats plan to take up a job-creation bill, in the wake of the announcement of a 10.2 percent unemployment rate. In the House, some lawmakers are beginning to push a major highway bill for next year to focus on job creation.

None of this is promising for a major climate change bill.

The focus on deficit reduction and jobs may allow coal and manufacturing state Democrats to continue their pushback on climate change legislation, warning that the bill could raise energy prices and hurt job growth in their region. Opponents of the legislation also jumped on October testimony by Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf that the House climate bill would slightly slow economic growth and lead to "significant" job losses from fossil fuel industries.

Moderate Democrats have argued that the Senate should pass a jobs bill instead of cap and trade in closed door caucus meetings, according to Democratic aides.

“While we must always be mindful of the cost of legislation, that's particularly true in today's economy,” said Finance committee Max Baucus at a hearing this week.

Baucus was the only Democrat to vote against the climate change legislation in the Environment and Public Works committee, but says he is committed to passing “balanced” climate change legislation that includes lower short-term targets for greenhouse gas reductions.

Other moderate Democrats have pushed Reid to take up a “climate light” bill that focuses only on energy provisions included in the legislation — leaving the cap-and-trade provisions to be dealt with after the economy recovers.

The Energy and Natural Resources committee passed an energy bill with bipartisan backing in June. Dorgan and other say the vote signaled that a package including renewable fuels mandates, energy-efficiency measures, and increased domestic exploration could attract significant Republican support.

“Good policy is going to be left behind by the insistence that the climate change bill has to be done first or together,” warned Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.).

Obama and Democratic supporters of the bill have repeatedly said that legislation would create millions of new green jobs by providing incentives for businesses to invest in green technologies.

They also note that the Senate bill sponsored by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) is deficit neutral, largely due to a Senate rule that prohibits major bills from adding $5 billion to the federal deficit in any of the five decades following its enactment.

“There’s just no credible way to turn these deficit-neutral bills into definitively-negative decisions for our country, especially since energy remains a top priority for the Obama administration and for the American people,” said a House Democratic aide close to the bill.

Aides say that legislation currently being drafted by Kerry and Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) will also be deficit neutral and focus on economic growth.

“If environmental policy is not good business policy, you'll never get 60 votes,” said Graham. “So my goal is to try to make sure that we fashion environmental policy that will create millions of new jobs for Americans who are desiring to have new jobs.”

Readers' Comments (65)

This is politics pure and simple, the twit knows that many of the filthy liberal scum are going to be sent packing in a year and he does not want a a giant blood bath as it would indicate that America as a whole does not like his policies nor his agenda.

Vote strong in the next election and vote in moderate D's and R's and please oh please many, many libertarians.

I am confused. I thought it was more important to save the world than worry about a stupid deficit, or jobs. What's this all about? I demand to pay more for CO2. We should all write our Congress People, and let them know, we will not go quietly in the night, we need to stop CO2 NOW! The seas are rising, the storms are more intense, the glaciers are melting and the Polar Bears are drowning. Look what happened to Venus, albeit, it's closer to the Sun, but that's beside the point. We must act now, before it's too late! Al help us, I can see the coastline coming closer and closer. I don't want beachfront property!

Yes, someone has finally convinced Obama that his socialist job killing programs are not being accepted with open arms by the general public. Never having had the need to get a real job he finds this somewhat disturbing. Other Democrats who have actually had to work for a living back in the real world are very concerned that they may have to get off the gravey train after mid term elections!

In other words, since the EPA is more powerful than Congress Obama thinks he can look like the guy the saved us from Algore. Sorry Obama, you are Algore, you and the rest of the Marxists in the EPA. People, you and I will not only will be stuck paying for Obama's Takeover of Healthcare to pay for that P.O.S. Andy Stern's Workers of the World but also to breathe. IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS SHOULD BEGIN IMMEDIATELY.

"Harry Reid has hinted that Democrats plan to take up a job-creation bill, in the wake of the announcement of a 10.2 percent unemployment rate."

Another Olympic Sized Failure by the dumbcrats and 0zer0! Hello dumbcrats... you already passed a "jobs" bill in February - you called it "Stimulus" and said it was "shovel ready" and would keep unemployment at 8%. Without it, unemployment would go to 9%. The results are in. It was "shovel ready" all right. That is what you do with BS. The bill has aptly become known as Porkulus, because all it has done is shovel money to liberal dumbcrat causes and special interest groups like Acorn, SEIU and the teachers unions. $787 Billion of our tax dollars wasted. Even Gaff Biden said "We got it wrong".

Please surrender in Afganistan and Iraq so they can become terrorist bases again, please ignore N.Korea and Iran so they can export their nukes. Please kiss up to Putin, Chavez and Castro. Please continue your war against Fox News and anyone that opposes you dumbcrats and your Dear Leader Reader 0zer0. Please call the opposition Nazi's, Tea Baggers and Racists.

Just keep doing what you have been doing, and you will see the Tea Party Express that washed out the dumbcrats in Jersey and Virginia turn into a tsunami that swamps the dumbcrats in 2010 and the Fascist/Narcissist Dear Leader Reader 0zer0 in 2012.

Aw, do we have to put off Cap & Trade until Boxer runs for re-election? I thought Boxer and Obama had the well being of the world as their top priority. Ms Boxer, excuse me, SENATOR Boxer has never cared about constituents, it has always been her and her self importance. I am amused at the recent emails from her office touting her sprinkling of Stimulous money aka bribes to get votes. I really hope the voters wake up this time.

This story is a great indication of how our education system has failed us. No longer are we allowed the use of logic when discussing science; no questioning of bad science (such as AGW); no media pursuit of the truth (and profit) behind al gore and AGW fraud; no questioning "authority" nor "speaking truth to power" - unless that power happens to be a conservative idea!

It is truly a sad state of affairs when it takes the destruction of the American economy via the Obama depression to wake up the frauds, cheats and America haters in congress to the realization that even more destruction of the economy via tax and trade would cost these congressmen their jobs!

And the empty suit Obama has the gall to call us Americans greedy?? Obama, what about your fellow democrats, who are so greedy and selfish for their jobs (and the associated power) that they are willing to give up the holy grail of gaia worship, "manmade CO2 global warming" cap and trade just to keep their jobs?? Shouldn't there be a "shared sacrifice" and a sharing of the weath that you speak so highly of? I say the elimination of Reid, Pelosi and the rest of the marxists in congress would be a great start to YOUR shared sacrifice! As the old saying goes: what's good for the goose is good for the gander!

We will never ever tackle climate change. The people do not care and neither do our leaders. Just worry about not having enough excess. Who cares? Congress.... yeah, right. China..... not even close. Burn it all and Hell on Earth. We have the Hell part already now we only need the big fire. Maybe Heat will suffice.

Everyone should see Cap n Trade for what it is, a colossal waste of time and money.This has been pushed as a green job creator with individual household suffering a modest increase to their electric bills. Dems are afraid of passing this monstrosity because they know it will kill jobs and increase the cost of electricity far more than what they have been telling us. If it is not right to do it in this economic downturn then you must admit it will hurt the economy and should not be under taken at anytime.

CAP and TAX is bad science because the Earth is going into a cooling cycle again .

These are BOLD-FACED LIES. Actually, to be fair you almost certainly don't know or care if they're true. Regardless, the only way Earth looks like it's going into a cooling cycle is if you cherry-pick endpoints until the data falsely appears to say what you want it to a la George Will. No reputable scientists support this deceptive "interpretation" of the temperature data.

Jamie F. Dems fighting words. Dems want to save the planet with your money. Soft Liberal men and women think that we should spend money that we don't have to promote green jobs. A La Communism at work.... If 33% of the US Population are tax takers, then Obama the Leftist Radical can work with winning another election with a 33% lead. The other people who work don't like the bloated governement we have.